Tuesday, May 12, 2009

30 Days of Night (2007)

Things I learned about Alaska: Draculas live there, 30 days seem to take place in 1 day, vampires give speeches every time they kill people, its better to kill yourself and your family than try to survive, and characters are all one-sided. It is stylishly shot, the vampires are unique and more menacing than ever, and the acting is good (particularly the vamps), but there is just no point in which the film generates any remote level of suspense or believability. The imagery with the pale-faced vampires contrasted against the jet-black skies make for memorable scenes, and their screeching, Eastern inflections, and designs differentiate them in the genre. The problem is, we know vampires are going to bite you in the neck, and we know thats all they are going to do. Outside of giving monologues, the creatures in this flick are no different. It is extremely bloody, and even though I dont particularly like the film, I can see why many do. I find it to be boring, pretentious, and completely overrated, but this is coming from a guy that desperately hates vampire films. Vamp fans will probably find a lot to like, and I did enjoy it more on the second watch through, so its worth checking out.

I was really on the fence for this one. The problem is, on my scale, a 7 signifies a C average film grade, and despite its flaws and my feelings towards the film, the directing and stylization are above average. Given the films I have rated at a 7 (Brotherhood of Satan being the most recent), I cant rightfully ignore the positives just because I hate stupid boring vampires lol.. Its DEFINITELY not the 9 or 10 people make it out to be though.

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